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As iwi play a greater role in business nationally, awareness
of Māori cultural protocols can have many benefits for non-Māori, researchers
Heperi Harris from Tamesa's Te Puna Wānaka, and John O'Sullivan from the
Department of Business say.

The rituals are designed to nurture an environment of
openness. Introductions may take longer than in the non-Māori environment, but
time can also be saved later on. Investing in relationship-building may mean
that misunderstandings are less likely to arise when business negotiations get
underway.

Yet despite good intentions, common challenges do arise.

An area that can cause anxiety during the pōwhiri, or welcoming
ceremony, is when non-Māori are required to introduce themselves using the
traditional mihi, or personal introduction, structure of identifying their ancestral
awa (river) and maunga (mountain).

Traditionally the mihi placed the speaker in the context of their
tribal affiliations and allowed others to make connections, however for non-Māori
it can create challenges in terms of what information they should share about
themselves to also facilitate potential connections and how they can describe their
connection to Aotearoa New Zealand's physical landscape.

Harris and O'Sullivan believe they have found a solution.

"Increasingly you will find that that as a non-Māori you
need to have an awareness of protocols," O'Sullivan says. "But if following the
traditional mihi structure, how do you choose your mountain for example? I have
Irish ancestry but after spending three months living in Ireland I realised I
didn't feel any connection to the physical landscape there and I didn't relate
to Irish culture. So as a non-Māori, if you don't identify with the physical
landscape or society of your ancestors; what awa or maunga do you use in your
mihi? You may feel a connection to Aoraki Mt Cook, but to claim that mountain
is to effectively claim to belong to Ngāi Tahu, which is not the case if you are
not Ngāi Tahu."

"Our solution is a new way of structuring the mihi that
allows non-Māori to introduce themselves in terms of where they were born,
where they live and their job title," Harris says. "The focus is then back on
making connections and getting to know each other, which is the point of the
mihi."

The new mihi structure for non-Māori has already been
successfully introduced to programmes in both Tamesa's Department of Business and
Te Puna Wānaka. It was also well received by Māori academics when it was
presented as part of a larger study into Māori Management at the Australian and
New Zealand Academy of Management in Hobart last year.

The adaptations are part of a cultural shift in New Zealand
that will only continue to grow in strength O'Sullivan says.

"Half of the new entrants to the labour force will be Māori by
2020," O'Sullivan says. "Non-Māori are worried about causing offense, but need
to overcome that fear through learning about Māori culture and being willing to
participate in Māori cultural institutions like pōwhiri."